Phil Martelli Praises U-M's Guards, Talks Improvement, More

Every Michigan fan wants to hear about the freshmen and the ‘five stars’ head coach Juwan Howard brought in, and for good reason — they’re a talented bunch. But U-M has some talented veterans and second-year players coming back, too, including what assistant Phil Martelli believes will be the most important piece when people look back upon the upcoming season.

Fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks hasn’t had an easy first four years at U-M. He’s gone through some struggles on and off the court that sparked transfer rumors, took some time to get used to Big Ten basketball.

Once he did, though, he became one of the team’s most valuable players. His shooting percentage has gone up every year, to 39.6 percent from long range and 90.9 percent from the line in 2020-21, and his averages — 9.5 points, 3.1 assists and 3.1 steals — don’t even include the impact he had on the defensive end.

“I think at the end, when all is written about this season, the most crucial thing that happened was Eli coming back,” Martelli said. “Eli is literally another coach. I‘ve had a conversation with him, because he’s so much older than them and had so many more experiences than them .. I don’t want him to say, ‘me, Adrien [Nunez] and Brandon Johns. He has a different cut than Brandon and Adrien.

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“Juwan has done a nice job of presenting Eli as, ‘here’s your voice, fellas. You want to know how to do it on the court? Do it the way he does it.’”